Ryan Clark Has No Regrets For His Hit On Victor Cruz

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark has no regrets for the hit that he put on New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz in the end zone this past Sunday, and he even thinks that it might have gotten into the head of Cruz in addition.

“The reason I don\’t regret it, later on in the third quarter Victor Cruz had the opportunity to catch a crossing route where Eli Manning threw it leading it toward me, and he kinda stuck one hand up and fell down. And I felt like that was for a reason.”

“I feel like because guys know if they come in here, 25 is still going to strike you, he\’s still going to continue to play football the way he\’s played it, and actually within the rules.”

Clark is not lying about Cruz being timid the rest of the game and I even pointed this out in my recap of the hit and on the podcast in addition. That penalty might have cost the Steelers a touchdown, but it helped keep Cruz in check over the middle the rest of the game.

Clark is currently second on the team in total tackles behind Larry Foote with 52 and is a big reason why the Steelers have been able to survive without Troy Polamalu.

Clark might have a reputation with the officials, but that reputation is also acknowledged by the opposition as well. Clark is going to do his best to hit receivers as legal as he possible can. If it draws a flag, so be it. His style of play can certainly make a difference in a game and we saw that Sunday in the win over the Giants.

Definitely a better team with Troy P, but the contributions of #25 can’t be overstated he seems to be getting better with age. Glad we got a tackling machine that lets the receivers know that if you think your catching a pass across the middle think again. It worked with V Cruz he got alligator arms for the rest of that game after that big hit. Ryan Clark is the unsung hero of the D as far as i’m concerned.

Steve Duncan

Why would he regret a perfectly clean hit that make a WR hear footsteps?

http://www.facebook.com/dvnwarren Devin Warren

Clark knocked the dancing shoes off his ass

Maurice_hill_district

Clark MVP of our defense so far.

Maurice_hill_district

I like it!

RedCarpetDefense

Wish everybody on defense played nasty like Ryan Clark.

mokhkw

I still can’t believe how bad of a call that was, and luckily it didn’t affect the outcome of the game, but the NFL really has to look at allowing challenges for these types of unfounded PFs against D players around the league.

I understand the safety aspects they’re trying to employ but some of these calls are blatantly wrong, so why no have something in place to right a wrong when it’s justified?